Barton Baseball lands five on All-KJCCC West selections #GoBarton

Following a KJCCC West second place finish this season, four players from the Barton Community College baseball team garnered All-Conference honors as announced by the conference office on Tuesday.

Graham Brunner led the selections with a first team pitching honor with outfielders Alex Rodgers and Connor Scott landing on the second team while starting pitchers Zach Thornton and Payton Tinkler earned honorable mention nods.

The five helped lead Barton to a strong closeout of the regular season, winning nine of their last ten, vaulting into a tie of second place of the KJCCC West. The Cougars were then placed into eventual Region VI Champion Cowley College's sub-regional where the arguable toughest site ended Barton's season at 34-18

First Team
Graham Brunner – Starting Pitcher
Brunner, one of just two true sophomores on this year's squad, was selected as a first team starting pitcher as Barton's No. 1 hurler all season. The sophomore left-hander from Sherwood Park, Alberta, Canada, completed the season at 7-2 winning his last four regular season games on the mound helping the Cougars to the second place conference finish. Appearing in 13 games with 12 starts, Bruner struck out 65 while walking 28 in his 63.1 innings on the hill posting a Region VI third best 3.84 ERA.

Second Team
Alex Rodgers - Outfield
Leading off the Cougar lineup for most of the season, the returning freshman helped the Cougars' late surge into second place behind an eight-game hit streak in collecting a hit in 13 of the final 14 games. The Omaha, Nebraska, native appeared in 49 games with a team leading .380 batting average and region fourth best 29 stolen bases. Driving in 34 runs behind a team second best 10 home runs, Rodgers ranked third in the region in triples and seventh in runs scored. Rodgers closed out the year batting .411 in the Cougars' three playoff contests, belting three home runs in Barton's first elimination game, before closing out the season with another round-tripper for a torrid 6-of-11 in the final two games.

Connor Scott – Outfield
Playing in all of Barton's 52 games, Scott led the Cougars with 11 home runs and 48 runs batted in. The returning freshman from Norman, Oklahoma, recorded a region second best 20 doubles and six triples for sixth most in the region to collect a fourth most 37 extra base hits. Getting a hit in 15 of his last 17 games, Scott had his nine-game hit streak end in the season finale, completing the year with team second best averages of .361, on-base percentage of .452, and a .722 slugging percentage. Scott was also the KJCCC's Week 7 Player of the Week after producing multi-hit games in four of the Cougars' six contests that week, batting .450 with a 1.050 slugging percentage on six extra base connections and 11 runs batted in of his nine hits.

Honorable Mention
Zach Thornton – Starting Pitcher
Thornton worked his way into Barton's No. 2 starter, making fourteen appearances with thirteen starts. The freshman lefty from Lawrence, Kansas, won four of his last five on the hill, finishing at 7-1 including earning the win in the Cougars' first elimination game of the playoffs. Striking out a career high ten March 28 at traditional home-run derby field of Dodge City, Thornton led the staff with a region third best 79 strikeouts and fifth best 11.72 strikeouts per nine innings in his 60.2 frames pitched while walking just 21 for a 4.01 ERA, sixth best in the region. Thornton also earned the KJCCC's Week 15 Pitcher of the Week silencing Cloud County to just two hits in seven innings earning his third shutout in a four-game stretch helping Barton move into the second place conference finish.

Payton Tinkler – Starting Pitcher
Also a key pitcher helping Barton to a region second best 4.55 team ERA, Tinkler was the most efficient on the hill while be utilized as both a starter and reliever throughout the season. The returning freshman from Wichita, Kansas, started seven of his fourteen appearances going 3-3 with a save. Throwing 44.1 innings, Tinkler walked just 12 in striking out 59 for a 11.98 strikeout per nine innings to post a 4.26 ERA.

Complete KJCCC All-West Conference Selections